My Gaelic biography & 'St. Andrews'/Edinburgh trip

With less than a month to spend in Glasgow, including learning for the class exam, the days left were beginning to become more valuable. There were still plenty of things we wanted to do and see, but it was already clear that it was impossible to do all this before we would fly back. On Tuesday the 23th (November) we had the day off and, being three scientists, decided to go to the big Glasgow Science Centre. Little did we know it's closed on Tuesdays. But the day was well spend by doing some shopping, since we were already close to the city centre.

Thursday I had my last Gaelic class. This time there would be a native speaker and we had to prepare a little story about ourselves by using what we had learned in the past seven weeks. There were not many people there, probably due to the weather conditions, but I didn't want to miss the last lesson. My story went like this: (translation on the bottom of the page)
“Feasgar math! Is mise Samantha de Bruijn. Tha mi an Òlaind ach tha mi a’ fuireach an ann Glaschu. Is toil Alba. Tha Alba brèagha, agus tha sneachd agus tha i fuar à Glaschu an-diugh. Tha bràthair agam, ach chan eil piuthar agam. Is toil leam cèic, cupa agus seoclaid ach cha toil leam uisge-beatha agus iasg. Tha Beurla agam. Tha mi a’ tuigsinn beagan Fraingis agus Gearmailtis agus tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig.”

The International Society had organised a trip to St. Andrews that Saturday (27th). Because it was close to St. Andrews day (30th), all sight-seeing stuff in St. Andrews were free to enter. I'll explain a bit about who Saint Andrew was and why he is still so important in today's Scotland. Well, actually wikipedia did it for me (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew).
“Saint Andrew is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. About the middle of the 10th century, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St Andrews stands today. According to legend, in 832 AD, Óengus II led an army of Picts and Scots into battle against the Angles. The legend states that whilst engaged in prayer on the eve of battle, Óengus vowed that if granted victory he would appoint Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. On the morning of battle white clouds forming an X shape in the sky were said to have appeared. Óengus and his combined force, emboldened by this apparent divine intervention, took to the field and despite being inferior in terms of numbers were victorious. Having interpreted the cloud phenomenon as representing the crux decussata upon which Saint Andrew was crucified, Óengus honoured his pre-battle pledge and duly appointed Saint Andrew as the Patron Saint of Scotland. The white saltire set against a celestial blue background is said to have been adopted as the design of the flag of Scotland on the basis of this legend.”

However, we did not had the privilege to reach St. Andrews. There was a severe amount of snow in St. Andrews and only one road was open and the coach drivers thought that it was too dangerous. It was decided that one bus would go to Stirling and the other one to Edinburgh. We had already been to Stirling, plus it is not that big, so after switching buses the journey continued, this time to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh was beautiful in the snow, but I was so, so cold. We started off by warming ourselves on a nice cup of coffee/ hot chocolate at the first Costa/ Nero/ Starbucks we came across (Costa in this case). Even though we did not visit St. Andrews we could not stop ourselves from acting as a tourist, so we first went to visit one of the three Edinburgh Cathedrals (St. Giles' ). We did not stay in the cathedral very long, because we also wanted to visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The palace was beautiful. It is well known as the place where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed. A famous event is when her second husband Lord Darnley murdered her secretary Rizzio by stabbing and slashing him 56 times, while she was highly pregnant with her son (James VI of Scotland and James I of England). Nowadays, The Queen (Elizabeth II) doesn't mind using it as a little and cosy place to spend a week in the beginning of each summer.

Close to where the coach would pick us up, there was a little Christmas market. A German one. In Edinburgh, yes. It was nice to have a look around and I warmed myself by having a hot apfelstrudel and some glühwein. Although my hands were a bit warmer now, it would take a long time before I could feel my feet again.

Sunday was more exciting than I had expected. I was doing some homework and in the afternoon I got an email from the parents of Guy. They asked if I wanted to fly to the Netherlands to attend my boyfriends masters graduation ceremony at their expense. Well, yes!! However, it meant that I really needed to start learning for my class exam, because now I had three days less to prepare myself for it. Little did I know that this surprising message would change my week more than I had thought, as I will explain later. Of course, it was all worth it when I saw him again.

Love,
Samantha

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Gaelic translation: Note that I used Holland instead of the Netherlands. The Gaelic word for the Netherlands is Na Tìrean Ìsle, but I found it hard to pronounce.
“Good evening! I’m Samantha de Bruijn. I am from Holland, but I live in Glasgow. I like Scotland. Scotland is beautiful, but it is snowing and it is cold in Glasgow today. I have a brother, but I have no sister. I like cake, tea and chocolate, but I don’t like whisky and fish. I speak English. I understand a little bit of French and German and I’m learning Gaelic.”

Photos: http://s1046.photobucket.com/home/MathildeCastelijns/allalbums
Glasgow Science Centre: www.gsc.org.uk/
St. Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh: www.stgilescathedral.org.uk/
Holyroodhouse Palace: www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=36